By Nick Chambers •
November 5, 2009
There was a time not too long ago that you couldn’t have paid me to buy another new American automobile. Don’t take that statement that wrong way; it wasn’t for lack of trying. I love the lines of the true classics like the ‘57 Chevy or the ‘65 GTO. But somewhere in the last few decades, the American manufacturers seemed to just give up on making a good product—and I went through several modern American pieces of junk before I gave up trying too.
Yet in the last two years there is one major American manufacturer, who, above all others, seems to have come out the other end of a dark tunnel with a clear vision for its future and a line-up of solid, well-designed cars on which to build—Ford.
As an undergrad in college, I had the privilege of twice attending the annual Specialty Equipment Manufacturers Association (SEMA) Show in Las Vegas. SEMA is mostly known for wild, outlandish, and powerful versions of street cars; it isn’t the kind of place you go to find people discussing fuel efficiency and hybrids.
But 2009 is a year of reckoning and big changes are afoot in the auto industry. One sign of the times: M&J Enterprises has brought to this year’s SEMA a Ford Fusion Hybrid equipped with an aero body kit to reduce drag.
By Nick Chambers •
October 30, 2009
Touring bands are notorious for their environmental footprints, but more and more the bands and their fans are taking steps to make the activity less damaging.
When it comes to music, the Beatles—fueled by my parents’ large collection of vinyl—dominated most of my early life. The White Album is like my musical comfort food; it’s what I go back to when I need to feel rooted. But in terms of the music that has influenced and shaped much of my adult life, there is no band more important than Phish.
By Jo Borras •
October 26, 2009
Yamaha didn’t pull any punches at last week’s 2009 Tokyo AutoMotoShow, bringing no less than five (5!) innovative new eco-conscious motorcycle concepts to a predominantly car-centric show in a bid to monopolize 2-wheeled press coverage and establish Yamaha as the leader in 2-wheeled hybrid technology.
Did it work? Maybe!
More about the seemingly production-ready HV-X hybrid concept—including video—after the jump…
By Nick Chambers •
October 23, 2009
According to CEO Carlos Ghosn, unlike its other Japanese rivals, Nissan has made a strategic decision to cede the standalone hybrid wars to them and will not make hybrid-only models such as Toyota’s Prius or Honda’s Insight.
By Nick Chambers •
October 22, 2009
Subaru’s AWD Hybrid Concept Car
Based on comments made at the Tokyo Motor Show by Ikuo Mori, president of Fuji Heavy Industries (the company that makes Subarus), Subaru is well on their way to releasing their first gasoline-electric hybrid in 2012.
I don’t normally get excited about hybrids. They’re pretty humdrum if you ask me, and I was into performance vehicles way before I was into alternative fuels. The Prius is boring, the Fusion is just a Fusion, and the Insight and downright ugly.
But Honda seems to have been listening, having announced that the aggressively styled CR-Z concept hatch will make it into production as a 2011 model for Japan and America. This is a hybrid car I could actually see myself driving.
Chrysler is arguably in the toughest shape of the Big Three Detroit automakers, both financially and with its future lineup. You can point plenty of fingers at reasons why, including the lack of effective, fuel efficient vehicles, but Chrysler was once considered the most innovative of the big three, always thinking big while breaking the bank.
One little-known car from the annals of the Auburn Hills automaker is the Patriot, a purpose built hybrid electric race car that was to use turbines and natural gas to achieve purported speeds of 200 mph.
By Nick Chambers •
October 16, 2009
The American hybrid landscape is shifting under our feet.
With the perceptible movement of a slow landslide, Ford hybrid sales have been dramatically increasing over the last year—sales in September were up 73% from last September. According to Automotive News (subs. req’d), this brings Ford within a few thousand units of overtaking Honda to become the second largest seller of hybrids in America.
These numbers are significant because, according to Ford hybrid marketing manager David Finnegan, “More than 60 percent of Fusion Hybrid sales have been from non-Ford owners, and more than half of those are customers coming from import brands, mostly from Toyota and Honda.”
Confirming Finnegan’s assessment, the established hybrid juggernaut, Toyota, has seen sales of its hybrids plummet 28% in the same time period. Toyota still blows all the hybrid competition out of the water—capturing nearly 66% of all US hybrid sales—but the speed with which the changes are taking place certainly bodes well for a healthy and competitive hybrid marketplace in the future.
By Jerry James Stone •
October 10, 2009
BMW’s Simple concept–which kinda looks like a Stealth Bomber with training wheels–is a hybrid trike that gets around 120 mpg.
The Simple (which stands for Sustainable and Innovative Mobility Product for Low Energy consumption) does 60 mph in just under ten seconds and has a top speed of 125 mph. The car weighs just over 900 lbs and has a super low drag coefficient of 0.18.
This one really made me giggle.
Tuning powerhouse Tommy Kaira has given the third generation Toyota Prius an aggressive makeover that is purely cosmetic.
